Fujitsu Technology Solutions

67 percent of resellers and distributors worldwide say they find sales training offered by vendors to be very important or important, with 23 percent saying their quality and usefulness varies

SELECT Academy designed to further reward Fujitsu SELECT Partner Program members with exclusive access to sales skills training

Fujitsu today launches at Canalys Channels Forum in Barcelona the Fujitsu SELECT Academy, a radical new approach to offering highly-valued yet continuous learning in sales training, while supporting product-related certification of channel partners. The SELECT Academy offers a new educational experience for for Fujitsu SELECT Partner Program members which receive access to premium training resources.

With the IT market in constant transition, 67 percent of resellers and distributors worldwide say they find sales training offered by vendors to be very important or important, according to independent research commissioned by Fujitsu. However, not all training offerings are considered equally valuable. Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of resellers and distributors asked believe that while vendor training is somewhat important, their quality and usefulness varies.1

When asked which kinds of vendor-funded sales training courses they found most valuable, nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of respondents found each of the following most valuable: techniques to find and acquire new customers; moving from point product sales to solution sales, and best practises for annuity-managed service contracts. Of the remainder, 18 percent found learning consultative sales skills to be most valuable.2

The SELECT Academy goes well beyond just sharing information about the product portfolio, as is more often the case with other vendors. Instead, this new one-stop-shop for all Fujitsu channel-partner training delivers a continuous learning experience that covers sales skills courses including techniques to find and acquire new customers, learning consultative sales skills, how to sell complex solutions, and the optimization of account management.

The Fujitsu SELECT Academy is now available in the Europe, Middle East and Africa and India regions, rolling out to other international regions over the coming months. It comprises:

SELECT Certification Center that enables channel partners to achieve the training requirements of the SELECT Partner Program and covers knowledge of the Fujitsu portfolio.

SELECT Webcasts with Fujitsu Senior Executives on strategic channel topics and trends offered exclusively to Fujitsu SELECT Experts to develop the necessary competencies for success in the IT market.

New elements of the program include SELECT Sales Skills Courses, delivered by expert training providers, and training in Third-party Competencies which are accredited as part of the SELECT Partner Program curriculum.

Supporting quote

Alastair Edwards,Principal Analyst, Canalys
“The IT industry is in a transition phase, driven by the consumerization of IT, enterprise mobility and data center transformation. These technology-driven changes are cascading through to purchase decision processes and IT management competencies. The newly launched Fujitsu SELECT Academy will go a long way towards helping resellers to meet new business challenges and thrive.”

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is the leading Japanese information and communication technology (ICT) company offering a full range of technology products, solutions and services. Approximately 170,000 Fujitsu people support customers in more than 100 countries. We use our experience and the power of ICT to shape the future of society with our customers. Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.4 trillion yen (US$47 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2013. For more information, please see http://www.fujitsu.com.

About Fujitsu Technology Solutions

Fujitsu Technology Solutions is the leading European IT infrastructure provider with a presence in all key markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, plus India, serving large, medium-sized and small businesses. The company offers a full portfolio of IT products, business solutions and services, ranging from workplace systems to datacenter solutions, managed services, and cloud-based software and solutions. Fujitsu Technology Solutions employs approximately 13,000 people and is part of the global Fujitsu Group. For more information, please see: ts.fujitsu.com/aboutus.

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